Drink your Kool-aid

Have you decided on your word (or 3) for the year?

Are you getting emphatic in your coaching? Are you taking a stand?

Have you hit the ground running, starting with a theme for January?

Your words are so powerful: Have you come up with a make-this-real mantra, or a strategic hit-list of your goals?

Stick to them, and repeat them as often as you can.

A reading tip: Hover your mouse over these links,
and the title they point to will show up.

Drink your Kool-aid! Communicate it often!

Share it when others agree with you. Intensify the flavor of your mix, and nourish yourself with the fresh energy which will fuel your efforts.

For instance, I shared my 2010 intentions with you, and added these first two lines to the sidebar of Talking Story so we can find it quickly (under the first photo) whenever we need a reminder:

Our Ho‘ohana is how we Work with Aloha:
Take 5 in 2010: A Game-Changing Ho‘ohana

1. We will serve Great Managers directly, for Managers must become Game-Changers.

2. We will get M/L Practical with the 30/70 Mission of Managing with Aloha

3. Jobs will be Reinvented and Delivered for Best Livelihood

4. We will work Small and Nimble, in Self-Managing Teams and Tribes

5. We recommit to Critical, Consistent, Clear Communication and our Language of Values

My Red Kool-aid

Here is one of my recent finds, helping me feel good about being on the right track, and fueling my energies:

From Tim Bray, Doing it Wrong

The Web These Days | It’s like this: The time between having an idea and its public launch is measured in days not months, weeks not years. Same for each subsequent release cycle. Teams are small. Progress is iterative. No oceans are boiled, no monster requirements documents written.

And what do you get? Facebook. Google. Twitter. Ravelry. Basecamp. TripIt. GitHub. And on and on and on.

Obviously, the technology matters. This isn’t the place for details, but apparently the winning mix includes dynamic languages and Web frameworks and TDD and REST and Open Source and NoSQL at varying levels of relative importance.

More important is the culture: iterative development, continuous refactoring, ubiquitous unit testing, starting small, gathering user experience before it seems reasonable.

Not even my industry, really (not planning a start-up, tech alpha or public launch this year), but close enough in spirit, game-changing the small and nimble way that is so very attractive to me right now. It is just enough to make me shout, “Yeah!” and feel like I am on the right track.

The year is young, but it is never too early to ramp up your energies. Drink your own Kool-Aid. Share it often.

Start strong, interesting conversations when you catch someone else sipping your same-color Kool-aid so you can collaborate, and further challenge your most brilliant self.

Watch for your red words, and listen for your red sounds.

And if you need a place to share the good word, the comments are open!

Photo Credit: The Krazy Kool-Aid by feastoffun on Flickr